Boys track and field: WW South’s Williams repeats 300 hurdles state title

CHARLESTON -- Two years ago, Wheaton Warrenville South’s Amari Williams was just starting his ascent up the state ladder.

A raw but athletic football player and track runner, Williams was primed for an eye-opening performance at the Class 3A state track and field meet in the 300-meter hurdles in his sophomore season. But he finished in ninth place after recording the second-fastest preliminary time.

Williams caught the crowd’s attention after hitting a hurdle late in the event, causing him to be motivated to work on his form and finish his career on a strong note.

“I ended up tripping and falling in the second to last hurdle, which motivated me for the next two years to do better and focus more,” Williams said. “Having that bad experience and that feeling of falling, that gave me an urge and made me push and get better for next year and the year after that. I didn’t want to feel that feeling ever again. That just motivated me to do better.

“I had a lot of adversity after that and that built a fuel up to get better and a memory in the back of my head to make sure I clean up every hurdle in practices and meets and push myself to my best potential.”

On Saturday, Williams, a senior who committed to Northern Illinois football, lived up to his words by capturing the 300 hurdle state title for the second consecutive season. Williams blazed a personal-record time of 36.94 seconds to claim first place at EIU’s O’Brien Field.

“I felt good today after my performance Friday and that pushed me in the finals to finish strong,” Williams said. “I was just trying to run forward and get the lead. I knew I had to finish strong and give it all I got and give it my last gas and finish it through.”

Downers Grove North’s 4x-800 relay of Will Surratt, John Courtney, Grant Schroder and Philip Cupial opened the early meet with a first-place time of 7 minutes, 36.40. Cupial had a strong final leg to secure the victory for the second season in a row.

“I fired myself up and just was digging and looking at the crowd and it was an exciting feeling to cross the line and seeing the time,” Cupial said. “The key was trusting myself and my teammates. I got really mad and just dug hard. We won as a team. Being the anchor gives you that much more pressure after I ran the third leg. I’m happy with how it ended up.”

Naperville Central junior Zoelen Terry kept up his fast rise in the long jump, claiming the 3A title with a top mark of 7.07 meters. Terry said he didn’t compete in the long jump last season in Ohio, but “restarted everything” when he moved to the Naperville area.

“I just stayed out of my head and stayed consistent with my jumps,” Terry said. “I’m very excited and proud of how I did here.”

Naperville Central senior Patrick Clune, a three-time state qualifier, ran a solid 1,600 to end in third place (4:18) in the loaded field for his final race of his career. Downers Grove North’s Surratt took fifth.

“Coming in, I had a mixed bag with state meets, so I used those previous state meets as motivation,” Clune said. “I knew I had to be confident in what I could do no matter how the race played out. I just tried to keep as hard as I could with about 600 left. I was proud of how I did.”

Laying in the grass near the finish line, Huntley’s Tommy Nitz maintained a stoic expression on Saturday afternoon.

The senior distance runner had just completed a historic performance 1,600-meter run at the Class 3A state track and field meet. As the public address announcer was detailing – while the rest of the three-class state meet was competing – watching Nitz set himself up a banner senior season by winning a home indoor meet in February, Nitz didn’t bat an eye at hearing his name mentioned in great length at Eastern Illinois University O’Brien Stadium.

Nitz picked a good time to run the race of his life. But Nitz seems to pick the biggest stages for his best performances.

The Coastal Carolina recruit was exhausted, relieved and satisfied to conclude his prolific career in grand style, clocking a first-place time of 4 minutes, 16.24 seconds. Jacobs' Maximilian Sudrzynski finished in second place (4:17.24) and Cary-Grove’s Jameson Tenopir earned fourth (4:18.12).

Nitz made his push right at the final bell, pulling into the lead with 400 meters left and holding back the rest of the field with a strong finish. Nitz made program history by becoming the first runner to win a state title. In the 2010 state meet, Marcus Popenfoose won the 3A discus for the first state title in program history.

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy and I would come down to the last 400, so I took it and didn’t look back,” Nitz said. “I didn’t know I ran that fast on the last (lap). It was all about training all year, especially this week and everything come together. I knew my kick was good enough and for the last lap of the year, it was. I couldn’t be happier.”

Nitz, who ran the best race of his career for 11 th place at the Class 3A boys cross county state meet in November, managed to duplicate the feat on Saturday with anther sterling run.

“I trained my whole life for this,” Nitz said. “I didn’t plan on taking it that early, but I did and it worked well for me. I couldn’t do this by myself. I got seventh last year, so I’m very happy to end with a first-palce (medal).”

Sudrzynski, a three-time state qualifier, admitted he was bewildered to cap his career with a runner-up medal, especially after playing soccer mostly during his youth.

“I was a soccer player and joined cross country my sophomore year and only ran 18 minutes in three-mile and slowly improved,” Sudrzynski said. “If I was to talk to myself two and a half years ago from now, he wouldn’t believe a word I was saying. Even though I didn’t win it, I was going for it. I’m blessed to get second at the state meet in such little time training.”

“I was bit tired from yesterday, but I knew it was all mental, so I knew the only thing that would take me down was my own stress,” he said. “I stayed with the front and tried to go for the win.”

Tenopir, glancing over at the state blue podium, said he’s motivated to win the 1,600 next as the lone conference member at state slated to return next season. Last year he made finals in the 800 but finished last in the event, pushing him all offseason for a better showing.

“After having some state experience, I was more motivated to place here,” Tenopir said. “It was awesome to have three of us being in the same conference. That was awesome. I definitely think I have a good shot next year at being a state champion.”

Cary-Grove junior thrower Logan Abrams is moving up the ladder in the track world. Abrams, a standout in football, walked out of the stadium with a pair of top seven medals. He placed fifth in the shot put with a top toss of 17.60 meters and seventh in the discus (52.35). Abrams topped his eighth place in the discus from last year.

“I’m happy to place in both events,” Abrams said. “Last year I did terrible at state in discus, so this year I did better. I’m going for even more next year, for sure. I have to get back to work. In the shot put, I was hoping for more. I threw really well in sectionals and was hoping to care it over.”

Prairie Ridge sophomore Jacob Prechel is set to make some noise in the future after earning seventh in the 400 in a time of 50.32 seconds.

Kaneland senior Fredrick Hassan, who committed to play basketball for Waubonsee Community College, finished in second place in the 3A high jump (2.02 meters).